Diabetes Australia today issued a wakeup call about the diabetes epidemic which is overwhelming Australia’s hospitals after a new study found that people with diabetes accounted for around one-third of all hospitalisations. A recent study at Austin Health, a major tertiary health service in Melbourne’s north-east, found that 34% of patients had diabetes. Surprisingly, 5% of these people had silent, undiagnosed type 2 diabetes that was only detected after they were admitted to hospital. Diabetes Australia CEO Professor Greg Johnson said Australia has to act now to improve early detection of diabetes and reduce the very high rate of diabetes-related admissions to Australia’s hospitals. “Diabetes will cripple our health system unless we take urgent, comprehensive action and that’s why we are saying ‘It’s About Time’ people get checked for type 2 diabetes early, and ‘It’s About Time’ our health system got serious about reducing the high rate of hospital […]